you too can start your own microgrants program (even if you're broke)
I’m always surprised when people talk to me about my projects as if building something like that would be unthinkable for them. This is, of course, the case with Primordia Grants. People often see a project in the shape of “you give money to other people” and immediately assume that to do this you must have access to a fair amount of it yourself. If you do, then that’s perfect, you’re going to make my case so much easier, but if you don’t, I want you to know that starting a microgrants program is still very much within your reach.
It boils down to this: the question to ask here is not “do I have money to give out to other people?”, but “can I convince X amount of people to give me XYZ amount of money to give out to other people?"
Let’s look at some examples: Bagel Fund gives out $100-500 to “ambitious young builders” around the world, including teens, to build their first project. BlueDot funds many projects with <$500. 1517’s Medici Grants gives out $1,000. These are just a few examples, but you can find plenty more by looking up “microgrant”.
There’s tons of people in San Francisco, London, Singapore (and many other cities) spending this amount of money every month on Ubers, restaurants, DoorDash, or their preferred nootropic stack. In contrast, in many other cities $500-$1,000 can cover a full month (or even multiple months) of living expenses, especially in lower-income countries, or if the grantee is living with their family or in a cheap student dorm. $500 can get you many electronic parts to tinker with, or basic lab materials to run your first experiments. $100 can cover multiple months of subscriptions for basic AI tools, or a single month of Claude Max/ChatGPT Pro (which offer a TON of leeway, and can be enough to help a motivated builder rapidly upskill and build a portfolio), but it can still be prohibitive for young folks.
If you are well connected within high-earning communities (i.e. software engineers!), or have a lot of reach, I want you to know that asking people to put in money towards grants, fellowships, hackathons, bounties, or whatever format comes to mind, is absolutely within your realm of possibilities.
If you are the person spending this amount of money, nothing is stopping you from setting up a simple website with a form today and announcing your program on social media. If you don’t want to deal with the headache of running a program and getting the word out, you can ask for help on social media or even reach out directly to people who show great ability as community stewards. There’s tons of wonderful community builders out there who would love an opportunity to run their own fellowships or grant programs (if you are on either side of this, feel free to DM me with your areas of interest!).
You can even ask other people in your circles to pitch in to increase the pool size!
Besides the obvious monetary benefit, there’s an even more valuable side to grants: the signalling that comes from receiving a first token of validation.
Your token of validation will instantly put the grantees and their projects on many people’s radars*, unlocking further opportunities and connections for them.
Then, as the grantees start publishing about their progress, your program will start gaining attention and reputation, in turn increasing the attention and reputation that future grantees will receive in your next wave of grants.
That’s how you grow the pie.
* (= If you have any sort of audience, always remember that you have the power to make the invisible visible, for free. This is a highly underrated way to bring awareness to the issues, people and projects you care about.)